HON.
HENRY W. CORBETT.--The reminiscences of the early
pioneers of the Pacific Northwest must ever possess a
peculiar interest for all who can look back to the days when
the wigwam of the Indian was seen on every hand, and when
the old log cabins of the founders of this great section of
the union were few and far between. Pioneers of civilization
constitute no ordinary class of adventurers. Resolute,
ambitious and enduring, looking into a great and possible
future of the undeveloped country, and possessing the
sagacious mind to grasp true conclusions, and the
indomitable will to execute just means to attain desired
ends, the pioneers to the Pacific Northwest, by their
subsequent career, have proved that they were equal to the
great mission assigned them,--that of carrying the real
essence of American civilization from their Eastern homes,
and planting it upon the shores of another ocean. Among the
many who have shown their fitness for the furtherance of
such object, none are more deserving of praise than the
gentleman whose name is inscribed above. Whether in the
material welfare of his adopted home, the Pacific Northwest
or the nation at large, he has been one of the most
progressive of citizens, always to the fore in everything
which contributes to advancement, socially, politically,
financially and educationally, and is also universally
recognized as a very liberal philanthropist.

Mr. Corbett was born in Westborough,
Massachusetts, February 18, 1827. At the age of three years
he removed with his parents to White Creek, New York,
remaining there until about 1838, when another removal was
made, this time locating near Cambridge, in the same state.
At the age of thirteen he entered a store as assistant, and
thus began his career in the mercantile business, in which
he has since been so very successful. He held this position
for two years. In the meantime he attended school at the
Cambridge Academy, after which he entered a store in Salem.
After a stay there for a year, he went to New York City, and
engaged in the dry-goods business for seven years.

In the fall of 1850 he shipped a stock of
goods from New York by the bark Frances and Louisa to
Portland, Oregon, he following such shipment in January,
1851. From New York to Chagres, now called Aspinwal, the
trip was made in the steamship Empire City. From Aspinwal to
Panama the journey was made partly by small boat and partly
on the hurricane (leek÷ of a mule. After reaching the latter
place, lie remained ten days, and embarked on the steamship
Columbia for San Francisco. This vessel was the first
steamship built to run between San Francisco and the
Columbia river. After a few days stoppage at the Bay City,
he came on in the Columbia on her first trip north, arriving
at the month of the Columbia river on the 4th of March, when
lie was transferred to a river steamer called the Little
Columbia, a vessel (If some fifty feet in length, and
proceeded to Portland, arriving there on the following
morning. This craft not being supplied with sleeping
accommodations, the passengers were obliged to make the most
of the deck for a bed; and their meals were served upon tin
plates, some using their lap for a table, while others
utilized the floor.

At this time Portland contained about
four hundred inhabitants; and its business was confined to
five or six small stores. Its present site was then covered
with a heavy growth of timber, with the exception of a small
portion of the frontage, where tile stumps still remained
and where sidewalks were unknown. He clambered up the banks
of the river, made his way to the Warren House, situated on
the corner of Oak and Front streets, the principal hotel,
which would accommodate, by judicious crowding, about a
dozen people. Soon after, he discovered a storehouse being
erected by Halleck & Webber, which he engaged to occupy when
finished, at one hundred and twenty-five dollars per month.
His shipment of goods arriving in May, before the completion
of the store, he hoisted them by tackle to the second story,
using a ladder for a stairway. At night he hauled up the
ladder, and slept with his goods on tile soft sidle of the
floor.

Having previously taken a trip to the
head of the valley, visiting the various places on the
way,--Oregon City, Salem, Santiam, Albany and
Corvallis,--and returning by the way of Lafayette to
Portland, he had familiarized himself with the then chief
towns in Oregon, with the exception of St. Helens and
Astoria. The population at that time, embracing what is now
Washington, Idaho and part of Montana, was about fourteen
thousand people. The Willamette valley was then considered
the chief agricultural portion of the Pacific coast,
California drawing mainly her supplies in the way of
vegetables and lumber from Oregon; while the former was
chiefly valued for her mineral products. Mr. Corbett
therefore regarded the latter as ultimately to become the
great agricultural section of the Pacific coast, and the
more permanently prosperous. With this view he made that
state his permanent location. After fourteen months'
residence, having been reasonably prosperous, and being in
poor health, he determined to return to New York, to
consider a proposition of entering into business with the
firm that he was formerly connected with, and who at that
time were partners with him in his venture to Oregon.

After dividing with them twenty thousand
dollars, which were the proceeds of his undertaking, and
remaining there one year, at the same time having under
consideration their proposition to enter into co-partnership
with them, and after mature consideration, he determined to
return to Oregon and make it his home.

He had left a stock of goods in Portland
with R. N. and F. McLearn, with whom he had formed a
co-partnership before leaving. He commenced his shipments of
goods around the Horn again, and arrived in Portland in
June. 1853. A few months thereafter he dissolved
co-partnership with Messrs. McLearn, and continued from that
time in business for himself, until about the year 1866,
when the co-partnership of the present firm was formed under
the name of Corbett, Failing & Co. While there are others
now in business who came a few months later of the same year
to Oregon, it is believed that Mr. Corbett is the oldest
merchant in the state. He entered into other enterprises
besides those of mercantile pursuits, notably being engaged
in river transportation. He also took the contract for
carrying the mails in 1865 between Portland and Lincoln,
California, a distance of six hundred and forty miles, and
stocked the same with four-horse coaches, he having
succeeded the California Stage Company, greatly to the
satisfaction of the people of Oregon. Shortly afterwards, in
1866, he was elected to the Senate of the United States, to
succeed Honorable James W. Nesmith.

He was early identified with the
Republican party of Oregon, and was chairman of the
Republican state central committee, and conducted the
campaign in which David Logan came within thirteen votes of
being elected to Congress in place of Lansing Stout, the
Democratic candidate. The usual Democratic majority
previously had been about two thousand. After the election
of Lincoln, he attended the inauguration, and was there when
the council of the Cabinet was held in March, 1861, in which
the question was considered, whether Fort Sumter could be
relieved, General Scott having given it as his opinion that
it would take twenty-five thousand men to reinforce and hold
such fortification. The result was that the Cabinet decided
that no steps would be taken looking to that end. After
learning these facts from Thurlow Weed, at the Astor House,
New York, on the 11th of March, just before sailing for
Oregon, he asked the great journalist if he didn't believe
it would be a wise course to load a ship with provisions,
and give the Southern Confederacy notice that they were
going to provision Fort Sumter, and that if they fired upon
the ship the responsibility would be upon them. Thurlow
Weed's response was that he thought it a good idea.

On Mr. Corbett's arrival in Oregon, about
a month later, he was surprised to learn that this course
had been pursued by our government. He has no knowledge as
to whether or not the action of the government was taken at
the suggestion of Mr. Weed, who was a most bosom friend, and
was supposed to be the "power behind the throne," of Mr.
Seward. Certain it is that the result of the action caused
the uprising of the North as one man, after the firing upon
the ship destined to the relief of Fort Sumter.

Mr. Corbett and Leander Holmes were
delegates to the first convention that nominated Lincoln;
but, not being able to reach there in time, they forwarded
their promise to Horace Greeley, who represented Oregon in
that convention. Mr. Greeley's strenuous opposition to Mr.
Seward resulted in the nomination of Lincoln. Oregon,
therefore, through its delegate, played a conspicuous part
in the nomination of this great man. Mr. Greeley entertained
a warm feeling towards Mr. Corbett, who visited him during
the time the Tribune advocated letting "our Southern
brothers depart in peace." He remonstrated with Mr. Greeley
against such a policy, saying to him: "If we concede that,
there is no reason why the New England states should not
secede from the Middle states, and the Middle from the
Western states. In such contingency, we should be broken up
in small confederacies, with no power at home or respect
abroad. The only way to maintain this nation in its strength
and power is to let these Southern people know that they
cannot withdraw from this union without going through fire
and blood." To his surprise, the next day he read an article
in the Tribune with the prominent head line, "On to
Richmond" From that time forward the Tribune advocated the
vigorous prosecution of the war to put down the Rebellion.

Mr. Corbett, during his term in the
Senate of the United States from 1867 to 1873,--during the
reconstruction period, ¨ --when the nation was heavily
burdened with debt and required the most judicious and
careful management of its finances, that its honor might be
maintained and the debt paid according to its pledges, was
ever faithful to its true interests by advocating the
payment of its debts according to its obligations, whether
real or implied. By so doing he maintained that the
government could fund its debt at a lower rate of interest,
sustain its honor and save more than by any form of
repudiation, as was advocated by those inimical to the best
interests of the government. His earnest efforts in this
direction had great weight with the best thinkers of that
day; and to this firm stand of his and those acting with him
is the high credit of our nation due. Mr. Corbett was
vigilant and watchful of the best interests of the state in
securing appropriations for our rivers and harbors, and of
other beneficial measures pertaining to its welfare.

Since his retirement from the Senate, he
has been active in promoting such organizations and measures
as would tend to the advancement of the best interests of
the state and city with which he has been so long
identified. He was for some years president of the Board of
Trade, president of the Seamen's Friend Society,
commissioner of immigration, president of the Boys' and
Girls' Aid Society, one of the prominent trustees of the
Children's Home, which he endowed quite largely, and
president of the board of trustees of the First Presbyterian
church, to which he gave very substantial aid in erecting
their beautiful stone structure.

He was largely instrumental in
establishing one of the finest cemeteries on the Pacific
coast, called "River View," being president of the
association. He is a director of the Oregon Railway &
Navigation Company, largely interested in street railways,
the Portland Cordage Co., Portland Linseed Oil Co., is
vice-president of the First National Bank, the leading
financial institution of the Pacific Northwest,
vice-president of the Oregon Fire and Marine Insurance
Company, and interested in almost all other institutions and
enterprises tending to the advancement of the great
Northwest Pacific slope. He has also ever taken a deep
interest in educational matters, and has been for a long
time one of the hoard of trustees of Tualatin Academy and
Pacific University. He is at this time giving largely of his
means to the erection of the finest hotel north of San
Francisco, and is president of the Portland Hotel Co.

Mr. Corbett was married in 1853 to Miss
Caroline E. Jagger, of Albany, New York, the fruits of this
union being two sons. The eldest, Henry J., is occupied in
the First National Bank, and is known as one of the most
able of the younger financiers and capitalists of the
metropolis. Hamilton F., a young man of rare promise, died
some four years since, at the age of twenty-four years. Mrs.
Corbett, a lady known and greatly beloved throughout the
breadth of Oregon, died in 1864, deeply mourned by her many
friends.

Mr. Corbett was again married in 1866 to
Miss Emma L. Ruggles of Worcester, Massachusetts, a lady
whose genius for the conduct of refined and cultivated
society has long been recognized both at Washington and in
her own home in Portland, and reminds one of what is told of
the salons of Neekar, De Stael and other mesdames of the
yesterday of France.